Patrick’s Best Practices
Over 17 years of pastoring along with working in non-ministry fields as well as consulting, I've sat through a lot of meetings! The following are best practices that I've seen work well. They are not "The 10 Commandments of Leading Meetings" nor are they "The 10 Steps of Leading a Meeting". It's my list of what seems to make sense and work the best. These reflect our leadership culture here at BEFC. I...

Making Disciples of Jesus Christ is a process. Too often the church has made discipleship a class, a course, or an event. When we study the ways of Jesus, he moved people through 4 phases.
The 1st Chair: “Come and See”
Jesus invited the curious to come and see what he was all about. John 1:35-46 describes how Jesus used this invitation with Phillip and then how Phillip tried it out on Andrew the next day. ...

Grieving takes a long time. It's not uncommon for people to ask me when the grief of a loss will end so they can feel normal again. I recently had the privilege of hearing someone express their pain from the loss of some loved ones... pain that continues years later. Knowing that you also might be feeling the silent pain of grief; I've decided to post my response. I hope you will be encouraged by these...

Next time you make a run into Target, take a quick survey of the parking lot. You’ll typically find a small group of cars parked together at the far end of the parking lot. The fact that they’re older cars will tell you that’s where the employees park. Target values their customers so they require their employees to park out there to give their best parking spaces to the people they are there to serve.
Jesus...

Last Sunday I preached about the Steps toward Reconciliation from Matthew 18:15-20. Today I’m going to share how I’ve failed at each one of them.
The steps are as follows:
1. Get Ready. Matthew 18:1-17 is all instruction about how to humble ourselves enough to care about our brother or sister. Jesus had already taught in Matthew 7 about not focusing on the wrong they have done, but on our contribution to it. I suggested we...

I’m a nerd. I love to read. Even though I didn’t feel like I read much in 2013, I managed to knock out 10 really good books! One of my habits is to write a mini book report after I read a book. It helps me process what I got out of it and just might encourage someone else too. These are ordered with my personal favorites listed first.
The Peacemaking Pastor. The author did...

“How good is good enough?” “When will God finally be pleased with me?” “Maybe I shouldn’t sing along this Sunday morning after last night.” “When I finally get this or that right, I’ll be on track with God.”
Have you ever thought like this? Then read this book! God is not interested in you getting it all right. Can you be saved by being a good person? (No!) God desires us to come face to face...